Application of nitrogen-rich amino acids to active site generation in oxygen reduction catalyst

Iron and Copper Containing Oxygen Reduction Catalysts From Templated Glucose–Histidine

“…Among various materials, nitrogen modified carbons also containing non-precious transition metals (Fe and Co) are considered interesting because of their ORR activity and reliability as confirmed by results from independent groups [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Several preparative methods are reported: 1) carbon impregnation with metal organosalts or cyanoderivatives, followed by thermal activation in the presence of e.g.…”

“…pyrrole [37,38], onto carbon surface followed by metal ion adsorption (Co 2+ ) to obtain porphyrine-like structures; 4) thermal treatment of mixed precursors from a carbon and nitrogen source, respectively, e.g. glucose and an amino acid, added with transition metal salts (Fe,Cu) [9,14]. These latter materials are considered interesting because of the ease and flexibility of the [14].…”

“…glucose and an amino acid, added with transition metal salts (Fe,Cu) [9,14]. These latter materials are considered interesting because of the ease and flexibility of the [14].…”

Use of purine and pyrimidine bases as nitrogen sources of active site in oxygen reduction catalyst

“…Although the activity was lower than that of the conventional Pt-based catalysts, we found that an increase in the glycine content in the starting mixture improved the activity, indicating that the amount of the Fe-N x active site was increased with an increase in the amount of the N source. We also formed noble-metal-free cathode catalysts using glucose, Fe(II) lactate trihydrate, and amino acids containing more than one N atom in the molecule, and found that the activity of the catalyst increased with an increase in the number of N atoms in the amino acid molecule, which was attributed to the improved efficiency of the Fe-N x active site generation [19].…”

“…These bases contain various numbers of N atoms, and one or two aromatic rings in their molecules. In our previous study [19], we used amino acids containing aromatic rings as well as those without aromatic rings; however, the influence of the molecular structure of the N sources on the behavior of the formation of the catalyst was not fully clarified. It was not clear either whether the enhancement of the catalytic activity by the increase in the number of N atoms in the molecule was possible in another series of N sources with different molecular structures.…”